Shakti Peeth – The Background Story:When Sati, the wife of Shiva and the first incarnation of Parvati,sacrificed herself at a yagna being performed by her father theKing Daksha; a very distraught Shiva started dancing with her body. The world was terrorized from this Tandava Nritya and tostop the devastating penance, Vishnu used his Sudarshan chakra(the whirling knife on his finger tip) and completely cut up Sati's body in several pieces. Wherever her body parts fell, a temple waserected to commemorate different manifestations of Shiva andParvati and became a Hindu pilgrimage. They are called Pitha or Sakti Pithas. These temples are scattered from present dayPakistan to India to Sri Lanka to Bangladesh. Sati is also calledDevi or Shakti (Strength).In the pages that follow, we have tried to capture all pertinent information relating to ShaktiPeethas in and around India. We have tried to collate all available information about ShaktiPeethas, their location, accessibility, etc and have also put in relevant photographs or imagessymbolizing the place or location or the form of deity or the temple, in most cases.Each Shakti Peeth below has the key information on top in the following format:

Devi's crown or headdress fell here and idols are Devi as Vimala(Pure) and Shiva as Sangbarta. Take the train to Ajimganj. Thetemples are on the shore of the ganges near Batnagar. (inBangladesh?)From Azimgong by rail to Batnagar (on the bank of the river Ganges)